At the close of the 1800s, a terrible depression along with the growing system of transcontinental railroads created a new class of drifting, unemployed men, branded as “hobos.”

Many of the men were genuinely looking for work after losing their jobs in the East and Midwest, and they began migrating west toward California’s temperate climate and prospering new towns.

San Bernardino’s unique position as the first major railroad town in Southern California often made the city a magnet for invasions by “hobo armies.” In the early 1890s, individuals, or small groups of hobos would arrive in town, having crossed the desert in freight cars, or riding under the cars on metal rods called “brake beams.”

The Great Depression of 1929 to 1939 created a vast new crowd of hobos, many of whom were men from other parts of the country, desperately seeking work in California. Here, a hobo carries a bindle stick, which would contain his belongings. (Courtesy Photo)

Many unemployed men, dubbed Hobos, have hitched rides on trains to get to Southern California, where they could find work and warmer weather. (Courtesy photo)

The railroad crews would usually try and run the hobos off the train, but if the number of unpaid riders became unmanageable, they would simply allow the men to go on to the next town.

Hungry men arriving in a new town with no money or food could be a recipe for trouble. Some hobos looked for work, but many turned to begging for food from residents and shopkeepers. If that didn’t work, they often resorted to stealing crops from the fields, and occasionally stealing directly from the town’s merchants.

In February 1892, the San Bernardino Courier newspaper reported two local thefts, and said; “The police report that there is a gang of fifteen or twenty ‘hobos’ recently arrived here, who will probably give the officers trouble before the town is rid of them.”

Hobos would generally disembark from the train in the freight yards and congregate there until they came up with a plan for their next meal and shelter. As with today’s homeless populations, the hobos would often set up a “jungle camp” near a river or stream bed.

San Bernardino’s jungle camps were located in the Santa Ana River bed, near the present-day site of South E Street, and East Fairway Drive, and along Lytle and Warm Creeks, south of Rialto Avenue.

By 1895, the hobo population in San Bernardino had become a major nuisance to the residents and local businessmen. The San Bernardino County Supervisors decided to follow the lead of other counties and build a “hobo corral.” At this facility, men who were incarcerated for vagrancy or other petty crimes could break rocks as restitution for the costs incurred by the county. The crushed rock was then spread on roadbeds, sometimes by hobo chain gangs.

In the late 1890s, hobos began arriving in Southern California like “snowbirds” when the weather in the east began turning cold. The October 21, 1897, edition of the San Bernardino Daily Sun proclaimed; “The Hobos Have Arrived – The First Division of Knights of The Road Reached This Town Yesterday.” Nine hobos were arrested on charges ranging from vagrancy, to theft of a hog’s head from Wong Lea’s butcher shop in San Bernardino’s China Town.

The origin of the term “hobo” is unclear, and the word didn’t appear in U.S. newspapers until the late 1880s. Hobos also appear to have originated in the West, with most specifically migrating to California.

There have been endless discussions and quarrels between historians and sociologists over the differences between a hobo, a tramp, and a bum. One of the best-known quips declares that a hobo works and wanders, tramps drink and wander, and bums just drink.

However, from the earliest newspaper reports in the 1890s, the terms “hobo” and “tramp” are routinely intermixed and are rarely separated into distinct classifications. The term “bum” became more prevalent in the 1940s to describe someone who wouldn’t work.

The number of hobos increased dramatically through the 1890s, and they became part of the landscape and lifestyle in Southern California. In 1897, C.F. Lundholm organized a group of employee-musicians from San Bernardino’s Santa Fe Railroad shops to form the farcically named “Hobo Band.” The group became a favorite at picnics, parades, and celebrations.

Community clubs began holding “hobo socials,” where members and guests dressed up in outlandish hobo costumes. Hobo socials became very popular among college fraternities and sororities in the 1930s and ’40s.

The small footholds of tolerance gained by hobos in some communities were often nullified by the havoc they created for police and residents.

In November 1914, a mob of more than 100 hobos seized a Salt Lake freight train in the desert near Otis, (Yermo) and forced the crew to take them to San Bernardino. Police in San Bernardino were alerted to the hijacking and stood ready at the station with clubs in hand. 83 hobos were arrested, and twenty escaped.

The wild and daring feats of some enterprising hobos were occasionally romanticized in newspapers. In August 1925, a 17-year old hobo hopped on the wing of a National Guard airplane, and rode the craft from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. The young man was dubbed “The First Aerial Hobo” and he became a pioneer in hobo lore.

The Great Depression of 1929 to 1939 created a vast new crowd of hobos, many of whom were men from other parts of the country, desperately seeking work in California.

With the influx of new inhabitants, San Bernardino’s hobo jungles grew out of control. In October 1933, San Bernardino Police Chief Daniel G. Murdock launched a campaign to burn the jungle lean-tos and huts located on South Arrowhead Avenue, south of Rialto Avenue. A similar campaign was launched along the banks of Lytle Creek in March of 1937, by chief J.H. Hayden.

The advent of World War II, and the post-war prosperity greatly diminished the foundational reasons for the hobo lifestyle. The labels and causes may have changed over the years, but today’s homeless populations present many of the same challenges for cities as the hobo armies did in the past.

Mark Landis is a freelance writer. He can be reached at Historyinca@yahoo.com.